Universal
Gets Feature Film Rights to Butt-Ugly Martians(by digitalmediafx.com) Universal has secured the feature
film rights to the CGI animated series Butt-Ugly Martians. The
move came after the series continued to post very strong numbers
amongst kid audiences in the UK. In addition to feature film rights,
Universal also secured video rights and theme park rights to build
attractions based on the show.

Butt-Ugly
Martians is set in the year 2053 and features three Martian heroes
-- B.Bop-A-Luna (Charlie Schlatter, "Diagnosis Murder"),
2-T-Fru-T (Rob Paulsen, "The Mask"), and Do-Wah Diddy
(Jess Harnell, "Animaniacs"). The heroes land on planet
Earth having been sent on a mission to invade by their evil leader
Emperor Bog. There's just one thing: they really have no intention
of taking over! In fact, they fought for the assignment because
they wanted to experience Earth's great pop culture of fast food,
video games and TV.

The Butt-Ugly's
new mission includes keeping their three Earth friends -- Mikey,
Angela and Cedric -- safe from other space invaders and evading
Emperor Bog by sending phony taped progress reports of themselves
"conquering" the planet. Earth's invaders become its
protectors.

Animated
Films Play Big Role in Disney Monopoly(by digitalmediafx.com) The popular Monopoly game is about
to get Disneyized with Monopoly: The Disney Edition. The board
game just started shipping, courtesy of Hasbro, with a retail
price of $19.99. Standard Monopoly rules apply and the object
of the game is to collect Disney films to build color groups and
acquire Disney dollars. The gameboard spaces and corresponding
Title Deed cards contain vintage films like Steamboat Willie
and 101 Dalmations to modern animated movies such as The
Lion King and Toy Story.

Hasbro has
also released two other animation related new editions of the
board game - Powerpuff Girls and Pokemon.

Buy Your
Way Into Lord of the Rings DVD Credits(by digitalmediafx.com) In a rather unique promotion that
shows there is no bounds to what studios will do for money, you
can buy your way into the credits of the first Lord of the Rings
movie by purchasing a one year membership to the official Lord
of the Rings Fan Club. If you sign up for a three year membership,
your name will appear in the DVD credits of all three Lord of
the Ring movies. The promotion tagline is "You can be immortalized
in the credits of The Lord of the Rings."

The cost for
a one year membership is $39.95 (U.S.)

Names will
appear in alphabetical order, likely prompting some fake names
for people desiring to be near the top (i.e. Joe AAAAtracy). For
more information on the promotion, click
here.

"It won't
be easy to see Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust in the theaters. It
has a very, very limited release. Unfortunately there isn't currently
a large market in America for R-rated animated films. Any fan
of vampire movies or gothic romance should try and see this film
either on the big screen or video/DVD. It is the best vampire
movie, animated or live action, I have seen in theaters. It crushes
Dracula ..."